Ex-Professor, Inventor Leslie Dies

Dr. Eugene H. Leslie, 84, of 1831 Traver Rd., retired U-M professor of chemical engineering, inventor and pioneer in petroleum refining methods, died late this morning at his home following an apparent heart attack.
Prof. Leslie and his wife gave the land for the Leslie Golf Course and later land for Leslie Park and playground to the city.
The former U-M chemical engineering professor started the doctoral program in that field on the Ann Arbor campus, and was responsible to some of the greatest advances in chemical engineering.
He revolutionized the petroleum refining industry by introducing new and better refining methods, pioneered a new method of making the explosive TNT in World War I when supplies were cut off, and designed the first U.S. synthetic rubber plant in World War II when Japan cut off supplies of natural rubber.
Prof. Leslie continued research on recovery of short supply tungsten from tungsten carbide scrap, road building, and other things in a laboratory at his home in recent years.
A 1913 graduate of the University of Illinois, he received his doctorate from Columbia University in 1916, and came to Ann Arbor in 1919.